Man discovers dead body in newly purchased France apartment

The new owner of an apartment walked in to find the hanged body of the previous owner behind the front door when the locksmith opened up his newly purchased property. While it’s odd that the body wasn’t found earlier, you think the buyer would have visited the property before signing any papers, apparently the body was undisturbed for eight years, according to a local France newspaper.

Thomas Ngin, a security guard, had been fired from his previous job, dealing with court proceedings with his employer in legal court and facing debt issues.

The bank seized his property and sold it at an auction where it was bought for 415,000 euros (about $598,889) in early October. It explains why the owner never saw the property in advance, but he’s likely regretting that decision now.

Meanwhile, police are conducting an autopsy to determine a specific date of death. As for the unfortunate new owner, his properly value will likely drop since no one wants to live in a house that someone died in. There’s a negative stigma that you just can’t shake off and you’re better off demolishing and rebuilding the place.

You would think that disclosing a death in the property would be required, but in provinces other than Quebec, this isn’t the case. While real estate agents and sellers don’t have to tell a potential buyer this information, Ontario real estate agents are required to “discover and verify the pertinent facts relating to the property and the transaction” as a part of the rules by the Real Estate Council of Ontario, Toronto Star. It likely isn’t their fault that a death happened in their homes, but it seems wrong that they wouldn’t let potential buyers know all the information about a place.

There are a few court cases where a buyer purchased the property and discovered the house’s history later, neighbors do talk. If you want to avoid all this trouble, there’s a simple solution: do a quick Internet search before purchasing the property. You’ll likely conduct one to figure out about the crime rate or education in the area and this should be an extra precaution you should take to ensure your future property’s value. Once you’ve signed the dotted line, the place becomes yours and it’s your problem to deal with.

In the United States, DiedInHouse.com will tell you who died in your home, if anyone, for $11.99 U.S. While this service isn’t available in Canada, hopefully it’ll become available soon or real estate agents and sellers will be required to disclose this information.

Do you think sellers should be required to disclose a death that happened on the property?